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After years of unfulfilled ventures, Mike Watson has another 'big plan' for Old Cloverdale

Mike Watson, property owner, stands outside the space that is being planned to be the second Sa Za restaurant on the 1000 block of E. Fairview Avenue in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday, March 15, 2018. Albert Cesare / Advertiser

Now, Watson, the owner of downtown AviatorBAR and AlleyBAR and the strip on Fairview Avenue, says he has new plans that he hopes will help transform Old Cloverdale into the "theater district of Montgomery."

In the midst of these plans evolving, the roof collapsed inside a couple of those storefronts recently, the news of which was posted to Facebook and prompted swift ire from community members.

Madison Faile, the Cloverdale resident who posted photos of the collapse, called the situation unacceptable.

"It’s not that we’ve been waiting for something to happen, it's that we were promised something would happen. It was on the front page of the Montgomery Advertiser," Faile said of Watson's 2018 plans. "I understand having an empty building. But if you promise, 'We’re going to do this, this and this,' and then the building falls in? That's the problem."

The city, which gave Watson notice in February that he had 60 days to begin repairs or respond to the notice after a resident filed a complaint, has now marked the building as condemned.

"I don't really know what that means yet," Watson said Wednesday chuckling. "It seems Mother Nature is helping us along with this demolition."

Watson and the property's history

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Mike Watson, property owner, stands outside the space that is being planned to be the second Sa Za restaurant on the 1000 block of E. Fairview Avenue in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday, March 15, 2018.(Photo: Albert Cesare / Advertiser)

Watson, an architect by trade, has had some successes amidst the failures. During a time when the city began placing a high importance on revitalizing downtown, Watson was there to open AlleyBAR and AviatorBAR. But when he aimed at opening new bars in Old Cloverdale, he was denied liquor licenses after he was cited for serving minors.

Watson has owned the Fairview Avenue property for "about six or seven years" and initially had plans to open Graham Woods Public House, a Scottish Whiskey bar with a rooftop patio and beer garden behind the building.

The plans were delayed for several years when 1048 Jazz & Blues owner Douglas Gurney in 2014 filed a lawsuit.

Gurney alleged in the lawsuit that Watson was not in compliance with the minimum standards to file for a liquor license and therefore should not be granted one for the location. Gurney also alleged in the suit that Watson had a habit of serving underage patrons, a claim which was supported by a former employee with a signed statement.

The suit also said the plans for the bar would violate a state Alcoholic Beverage Control statute that patio areas "shall be located so as not to be a nuisance nor readily visible from a church." Gurney called the home between Watson's property and his bar a church and claimed the alley way that separates the two, accessible by vehicles and intoxicated patrons, would create an adverse impact upon the church.

The case was dismissed in 2015 before going to trial and then was appealed. The suit ultimately died in the appeals process.

When Tomatinos Pizza and Café Louisa, two tenants in Watson's retail strip, moved to locations on Cloverdale Road in 2017, he began exploring renovation and new business opportunities for the spaces.

"After they vacated the premises, there was an extended period for cleanup and assessment of this area to make it available for lease," Watson told Brandon Hodge, the chief property maintenance inspector for Montgomery, in an email. Watson provided copies of those emails to the Advertiser.

In February 2018, the lease for Seville, a hair salon and longtime tenant in the strip, was not renewed, Jen Powell said Tuesday. Powell detailed extensive issues with the building's roof and leaks. Regardless, the move was heartbreaking to her and her staff, she said.

At the time Watson told Powell that he had several renovations planned that could not be completed with a tenant in the building, she said.

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Mike Watson, left, and Jeff Tharp, Sa Za general manager, stand in a space inside the strip owned by Watson on the block of 1000 E. Fairview Avenue that they plan to make a second Sa Za. (Photo: Albert Cesare / Advertiser)

"Cleanup and demolition continued inside of 1030-1034 in anticipation of construction for tenant build out," Watson wrote in his emails.

Then, Watson said, there was "very little movement over the next few months except minor work" on the designs needed for permits.

Stalled progress on Fairview Avenue

Little was mentioned about the building until February when the city gave Watson notice that the building needed repairs and the doors needed to be secure. A resident had filed a complaint that there were leaks and unsecured doors creating a hazard, Hodge said Tuesday.

"Pieces of it had been falling apart for a while," Watson said during an interview Wednesday. "But we had plans already to tear all that down to build that second floor."

It was during that same time that Watson found out Sa Za would not be opening a second location in Cloverdale, he said.

"They saw another opportunity and decided a Cloverdale location was not in the cards right now," Watson said.

Shortly before noon Thursday, Watson sent Hodge a detailed email describing the various hiccups he's experienced along the way.

"I offer the following, not as any criticism, excuse or blame, but as perhaps some clarification to those that continue to create this rash of negative publicity," he wrote.

The pandemic has caused considerable delay, Watson said, in work on the building but also communications with the city regarding those plans. Hodge also said the pandemic has made city processes slower, but that Watson had been communicative regarding plans for the building.

Watson summed up in his Thursday email to Hodge that the segment of roofing that collapsed was scheduled to come down anyway.

"Mother Nature (plus gravity!) assisted this week in escalating the process by bringing some of the roof material to the floor," Watson wrote. "This construction material debris will be removed and wasted off-site just as it would have been if the roof were piecemeal (albeit in a much less orderly fashion than preferred)."

Watson assured Hodge that a dumpster was scheduled for delivery Thursday and that he'd be requesting a "basic Demolition Permit" Friday for cleanup to begin Monday. By noon Friday, no dumpster had been delivered to 1034 Fairview Ave. like Watson indicated in his email.

When asked Wednesday what he would say to Cloverdale residents, dismayed by the current state of the building, Watson said he'd have to think about it. Asked again by email Thursday, Watson never responded.

New life for 1034 Fairview Avenue

Danny Mitsios has known Watson for about a year.

"I came here as a dancer and I guess you could say I was in the wrong place at the right time. The director of Montgomery Ballet left so I became director to fill in that hole," Mitsios said. "I met Mike along my way this past year. We became friends."

During the course of the budding friendship Mitsios expressed concern with the ballet's current location on Eastern Boulevard.

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"I think our current facility is not optimum. I think we're in a poor location," he said. "Last July or August Mike threw out the idea of a property in Cloverdale. We don’t have a large budget, and we don’t have the budget to do a build out, or pay the rent on the size space we need."

But Watson was amenable to working with the ballet, they both said.

"The idea was he was going to present a fully developed architecture model to the board after it was approved by the city," Mitsios said. "Getting these things to government agencies has been very difficult with pandemic so we are behind schedule."

The project is effectively at a standstill.

"He’s just now being able to go and meet these agencies and talk with them," Mitsios said. "He doesn’t want to present the board something he can’t back. He’s not the type of person to go back on his word. So he's trying to make sure he has a plan in place, design and something he’s fully capable of delivering."

Watson said the plan is for several studios to be built into the structure, including a second floor to host a children's dance studio, and a theater studio.

"We want to bring a black box, New York theater studio to the people of Montgomery," Mitsios said. "With that, there would be three theaters in a one block distance. This is about the cultural enhancement of the city and it's pretty exciting Montgomery Ballet is along for the ride."

Mitsios has heard the way some people criticize Watson for his previous unfulfilled promises, but that does not concern him.

"I don’t know the Mike everyone knows. I know Mike now. The Mike I know has been nothing but a good friend to me and to the ballet," he said. "For our gala he allowed us the use of his space and bar rent free and the proceeds from the bar actually went to us. This is a very serious proposition and not something that Mike just threw out there to save face."

But as it stands, no paperwork has been signed for the project, but the board is supportive of the venture.

"With the current plan, we would have been months already in that process and moving in by September," Mitsios said. "That's not going to happen at this point because of COVID. We're just going to take it one day at a time."

Mitsios is confident in Watson to deliver.

"He could sell it or make a huge profit, or develop it into condos, but he’s making it into something that’s going to make a positive impact on the community," Mitsios said. "He doesn't just want to make money. He wants to build a piece of art."